It’s hard for a boy growing up in the desert to find friends. Maybe that’s why the Boy befriended the local Gunslinger. Despite his advanced age, (he must be nearing 50) the Gunslinger has retained his youthful friskiness and relishes the Boy stopping by to visit so that he might teach him a thing or two about becoming a man. Important things like how to clean your gun properly and the trick of anticipating the movement of your prey so that you might shoot him down dead. For the Boy’s birthday, the Gunslinger surprised him with a small glass bird. “It pays to mix a little beauty into your life. Just don’t go overboard” he says by way of instruction.